Young voices

Young Voices is a project, financed by European Solidarity Corps which aims to stimulate active citizenship among youth, as well as increasing the trust in youth NGOs. In this project, 4 youngsters will support the activities of the National Youth Forum.The current project includes 2 partner organizations – the National Youth Forum as a host organization and coordinator and Association FOR YOU as a supporting organization.

Project’s objectives

Young voices will include 4 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 30 who will join a 12-month voluntary service and will support the activities of the National Youth Forum. The volunteers involved in these activities can support activities related to establishing good dialogue between youth, youth organisations and decision-makers, as well as to conduct research on local, national, European and world practices and legislation in the field of youth policies.

National Youth Forum is the largest youth platform in Bulgaria, which brings together 50 youth organizations from across the country. Also, NYF is a full member of the European Youth Forum and an active partner of national and European institutions in building and advocating for youth policies.Their mission is to represent the interests of young people in Bulgaria and their needs, highlighting the importance of youth organizations, their development and participation in social and socio-political processes, and to provide effective structured dialogue through cooperation with relevant stakeholders and decision makers in youth policy.

The short-term goals set for this project are the following: increase the capacity of youth, youth organisations, as well as institutions of national level to interact for the implementation of youth policies in the country, to attract more young people and youth organisations to participate in the processes decision-making and to stimulate young people to participate in activities of youth organisations with a focus on rural areas. Furthermore, the long-term goals of the project are to stimulate active citizenship among youth, to increase confidence in youth NGOs, to create strong youth organisations, to disseminate European values ​​at national level, and to overcome stereotypes towards the youth and structures responsible for implementing youth policies.

Volounteer’s Profile

Youngsters between 18 and 30 years old from Bulgaria

Motivated to participate in the proposed activities

Open to work with different people in terms of their social background or ethnicity

Interested in work in the field of youth and youth policy

They should have completed their education or be at the end of their training cycle

They wish to gain more practical experience

Suitable for positions are young people whose education and/or interests are in the following areas – youth activities and policies, management, marketing and advertising, informal learning, public relations, media and communication, international relations, political science, public administration, European Studies, project management, organisation of events.

Main activities planned in the project

Two of the main fields of action of the National Youth Forum on which the project is build are Youth empowerment and Advocacy, youth politics and the dissemination of European values. The volunteers will be included in the preparation, the implementation, the evaluation and the dissemination of the results of the main activities of NYF such as trainings, youth initiatives, international seminars on the youth questions, Leadership academies etc. Also the volunteers will participate in different activities in the field of advocacy and the creation and the implementation of youth policies on national, as well as the implementation of European values on national level.

The volunteers will occupy positions in the following areas:

communication and interaction with youth organizations in the country

communication and interaction with institutions and decision-makers in the country

dissemination of the activities of the organization

creation of partnerships and seeking opportunities for organizing activities in support of the youth

researches and analysis the field of youth policies

The specific activities in which volunteers will be involved are:

conducting a youth leadership academy

conducting monthly meetings in different municipalities in Bulgaria

studies on youth issues

opinions on laws and strategies in the field of youth

initiatives to promote European values

participation in working groups by priority

presence during board meetings of the organisation

meetings with decision makers at national and local level

organising national and international youth events

search for information about youth organisations

meetings with youth organisations

establishment of a network of regional coordinators

meetings between young people and decision-makers

promoting the activities of NMF

creating partnerships with organisations at local, national and international level

preparation of initiatives and activities to support structural dialogue

communication with decision-makers

communication with youth organisations

communication with partners

Expected results

The biggest effect will certainly be on the volunteers themselves. They will gain new skills in the field of youth policy, European values ​​and the EU, the institutions responsible for youth policy in the country and in Europe, marketing and advertising, non-formal learning. At the end of the project, volunteers will also have a set of soft skills-communication skills, presentation skills, organisational skills, teamwork skills, initiative and entrepreneurship, social skills.There is also a significant impact on the target groups the volunteers will work with – youths, representatives of youth organisations, representatives of institutions and decision-makers.

Thanks to the project, we expect:

to improve the knowledge and skills of young people in the decision-making process in the field of youth and youth policy;

to improve the skills of youth organisations to participate in decision-making processes;

to improve the skills of municipalities and regional administrations to involve youth organizations in youth policy decision-making

to build a network of 6 regional youth coordinators in the country (Northwest, North Central, Northwest, Southwest, Southwest, Southeast).

to raise awareness among the youth about the active youth organizations in their regions

to increase the number of young people involved in the activities of youth organisations in different regions

to increase the number of active young people with a focus on rural areas

to gather up-to-date information on the implementation of youth policies in different regions of the country.

to increase the number of young people involved in drafting opinions and documents on youth issues

to increase the number of organisations involved in decision-making

In the long run, we expect:

to encourage more young people to become active citizens

to raise the interest of youth in youth policies in Bulgaria

to improve the youth’s knowledge of national and European youth legislation, programs and institutions

to improve mechanisms for structured dialogue between young people and decision-makers in the country

to support the implementation of European values ​​at national level;

to overcome the stereotypes of young people towards the institutions and vice versa

to promote youth organisations as advocates for youth rights and policies

Antonina was born in 1985 in Shumen, but in 2000 moved to Varna to continue her education. In 2008 she graduates with bachelor in Insurance and Social Affairs as well as Organization and Management in Tourism.

In 2012 her interests in applied arts and alternative social activities make her to become a volunteer at Association For you. She helps in organisation of art workshop for disabled youth. Soon she becomes one of the main organizers of workshop activities. Besides that she is involved in preparation and implementation of various local and national projects as well as in mentoring of local and foreign volunteers and trainees.

Dilyana Sapundzhieva

Dilyana graduated with bachelor degree from psychology at Varna Free University. She is certified by the Association for Positive Psychotherapy in Bulgaria as a psychotherapist of positive psychotherapy.

Since 2005 she deals with a local volunteering. In 2008 starts working as a consultant-psychologist at the SOS Foundation – Families at Risk. She works with victims of domestic violence and human trafficking as well as local volunteers who help out in Foundation. In 2012 she’s an internee at AWO Bremerhaven in Germany where establishes a group for mutual help for bulgarian emigrants with the purpose of their social integration. In 2013 organises her first EVS project, which is also first such project for Foundation. She becomes the part of Association For you Team in 2014 being a supervisor and later – coordinator of european youth projects.

Irena Derilova

Irena Derilova has studied Mass Communication at the New Bulgarian University in Sofia. She has a long-term experience as copywriter, translator, manager of social media as well as participant and organiser of various events and initiatives.

Irena joins Association For You in April 2016 as a temporary substitute to another employee. She is fascinated by the youth work and quickly becomes a permanent member of the team. Irena consults and supports youngsters from Bulgaria who want to find mobility projects in other country. Some of her tasks are supervision of volunteers’ tasks, coordination of short term projects, organising events, preparing written and visual content, maintaining the online profiles of the Association.

Teodora Yosifova

Teodora Yosifova was born in 1986 in Varna. She graduated High School with profile “Accommodation and tour guides”. She continued her studies at the Economics University in Varna, where she will soon graduate as an economist in the “Accounting and Finance”.
She started working in Association For You in April 2018.
Part of her tasks as accountant in Association are preparation of contracts, collection of financial documents by volunteers, preparation of a pay-roll ledger, description of project costs and preparation of reports.

Yordanka Gencheva

Yordanka Gencheva was born in 1979. She graduated at St.St. Cyril and Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo, subject Social Pedagogy – Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in Psychology. She has many years of experience in the social sphere with disadvantaged people and vulnerable groups.
Yordanka Gencheva is a member of the Managing Board of Association FOR YOU and since its establishment (September 2009) she has been actively involved in many projects and activities. At the moment her main responsibilities are social psychological counseling for disadvantaged young people, career counseling and guidance, project preparation and implementation, selection of trainees, coordination of international youth mobility.

– To support disadvantaged social and other social problems, their families and organizations for their successful realization and integration by creating independence in their lifestyle

– Exploring and analyzing living conditions and related issues;

– Exploring the experience and practice of other countries;

– Develops and implements programs for new models and practices;

– Develops and implements projects, including international participation;

– Creates conditions for the development of intellectual and professional skills and independence in private and public life;

– Maintains partnership relations with the legislature and the executive at local and national level;